VCU news

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Dozens of Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are among the thousands to present their work this week at the American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition in Atlanta.

VCU chemistry faculty and students will join more than 12,000 researchers from across the country to present new multidisciplinary research and highlight important advances in nanotechnology, drug discovery and energy. The meeting runs March 26-30.

This year, contributions by VCU range from research presentations by chemistry faculty such as Alenka Luzar, Ph.D.; Fred M. Hawkridge, Ph.D.; and M. Samy El-Shall, Ph.D.; to invited seminars on teaching approaches by Sally S. Hunnicutt, Ph.D., and Suzanne M. Ruder, Ph.D. Other activities include the display for National Chemistry Week of a mural of the periodic table that hangs in Oliver Hall, which will be presented by Kylie Sollien as part of the undergraduate section of The American Chemical Society’s local branch.

Presenting from VCU:

• Balaji Tatineni, Ph.D., “A Colorimetric Sensor Array for the Detection of Cadmium Using Nanostructured Cage Materials.”

• Alenka Luzar, Ph.D., “Adsorption of atmospheric gases on hydrocarbon surfaces: Implications for solvent mediated interaction.”

• Fred M. Hawkridge, Ph.D., “Applications of oxidase modified electrodes.”

• Gary Tepper, Ph.D., “Electrostatic polymer processing for the fabrication of chemical microsensors.”

• Arjun Raghuraman, Ph.D., “Finding a needle in the haystack: Prediction of specific glycosaminoglycan sequences that binds proteins.”

• Sally S. Hunnicutt, Ph.D., “Guided inquiry and collaborative learning in a large general chemistry class.”

• Atilio I. Anzellotti, Ph.D., “Iodine-124 produced by the 124Te(p,n)124I reaction: Specific Activity and Te(IV) determination.”

• Dusan Bratko, Ph.D., “Ion-specific effects on structure and thermodynamics of colloidal dispersions.”

• Asit B. Panda, Ph.D., “Microwave synthesis of assemblies of semiconductor nanorods and nanowires.”

• M. Samy El-Shall, Ph.D., “Nano catalysis: Design, synthesis, characterization and applications of nanoparticle catalysts with tailored activities.”

• Brian Lawrence Henry, Ph.D., “Novel chemoenzymatic oligomers of cinnamic acid that inhibit coagulation enzymes utilizing antithrombin dependent and independent mechanisms.”

• Ye Ni, Ph.D., “Outer membrane mutation effects on UDP–glucose permeability and whole-cell catalysis rate.”

• Kylee Sollien, “Painting the periodic table on the wall of Oliver hall for National Chemistry Week.”

• Lianyong Su, “Reduction of oxygen on the cytochrome c oxidase modified electrode.”

• Suzanne M. Ruder, Ph.D., “Student centered learning in large organic chemistry classes: A modified POGIL approach.”